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Clavelina australis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clavelina australis
Colony of Clavelina australis around Victoria, Australia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Tunicata
Class: Ascidiacea
Order: Aplousobranchia
Family: Clavelinidae
Genus: Clavelina
Species:
C. australis
Binomial name
Clavelina australis
(Herdman, 1899)

Clavelina australis is a species of colonial ascidian from Australia, in the family Clavelinidae.

History

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The species was first described under the name Stereoclavella australis in 1898 by William Abbott Herdman, although that taxon was considered a nomen nudum.[1] A formal taxonomic description of the species was written by Herdman the next year, alongside a tentatively named Stereoclavella sp. ?australis from Broughton Island. The two descriptions differed in the structure of their dorsal languets, united in the latter by a longitudinal band but directly joined to the horizontal membranes in S. australis.[2]

The original genus Stereoclavella was later synonymized with Clavelina, giving the tunicate its currently accepted binomial name.[1]

Description

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Like most ascidians, Clavelina australis is a sessile, colonial filter-feeder. Colonies are made of a large number of zooids emerging from a solid stalk-like test. They can average 9 centimetres (3.5 in) in width, while individual zooids are much smaller, around 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in length and 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in width.[2]

Distribution and habitat

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C. australis is known from the waters of southeastern Australia. Colonies anchor themselves on rocks and coral reefs in shallow waters, at up to 20 metres (66 ft) of depth.[3]

Taxonomy

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Inside the genus Clavelina, the closest relative of C. australis has been found to be C. ossipandae, the skeleton panda sea squirt, following the latter's description in 2024.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species – Stereoclavella australis Herdman, 1898". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  2. ^ a b Herdman, W. A. (1899). "Descriptive catalogue of the tunicata in the Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W.". Austr. Mus. Sydney. 17: 6–8.
  3. ^ "Port Phillip Bay Taxonomy Toolkit". portphillipmarinelife.net.au. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  4. ^ Hasegawa, Naohiro; Kajihara, Hiroshi (2024). "Graveyards of Giant Pandas at the Bottom of the Sea? A Strange-Looking New Species of Colonial Ascidians in the Genus Clavelina (Tunicata: Ascidiacea)". Species Diversity: 53–64. doi:10.12782/specdiv.29.53. Retrieved 2024-02-19.